Less than two months after he put a pair of kittens into a plastic bag and bludgeoned them to death with a rock, 71-year-old J M Rankin clutched a four-prong cane and limped into a Covington courtroom. Rankin -- unable to move the left side of his body or stand for long due to the four strokes he has suffered in his lifetime -- sat in a swivel chair in front of state Judge Raymond Childress on Wednesday and began the process of admitting his guilt to two counts of aggravated animal cruelty.

Childress at one point asked Rankin the routine plea proceeding question, "How old are you?" Rankin, who wears thick eyeglasses and whose hearing is impaired, replied, "Guilty."

The judge in the end ordered the defendant to spend one year on home incarceration and four years on unsupervised probation.

Additionally, Rankin can't have pets for the duration of his punishment and must pay $200 in court costs and related fees.

St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputies went out to Rankin's home in the Country Club Mobile Home Park near Slidell on April 9 to investigate a neighbor's report that Rankin killed two kittens in front of several children between the ages of 4 and 9.

Rankin's wife, Paulette Marie Rankin, Rankin's wife, testified that the kittens were born under the couple's porch to a stray cat they occasionally fed. Paulette Rankin said her husband believed the kittens were ill because they had a filmy substance in their eyes; and he euthanized them to protect the neighborhood children from infection.

Paulette Rankin told Childress her husband would not just kill a creature out of malice.

"He has never done something like this before," she remarked.

Authorities say a neighbor and children watched Rankin put the two kittens into a yellow Dollar General shopping bag on the day of the incident. He picked up a rock and repeatedly smashed it into the bag.

One of the kittens, a gray one, supposedly fell out during the beating. Rankin said he grabbed the kitten, put it back into the bag and continued to strike the bag until both animals were dead.

Rankin then shoved the bag into another bag and threw it into the trailer park's garbage bin. Deputies said they searched through the top layers of the bin but could not find the kittens' caracasses. Nonetheless, Rankin was jailed.

Prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea, Rankin initially was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but Childress suspended nine years of that term and imposed the home incarceration and other conditions.

Paulette Rankin testified that she and her husband received death threats once the case made the news; were kicked out of their trailer park; and relocated to a parish elsewhere. Paulette Rankin noted that she retired from her job so she could take care of her husband throughout his home incarceration period.

Rankin's defense lawyer, Buddy Spell, applauded the way his client was treated by Childress. An aggravated animal cruelty conviction can carry up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $25,000.

"I think the judge did a good job balancing the community's needs and this family's needs," Spell said. "A good judge will do that."